This initial Internet Marketing
blog post will be focused around businesses using the Community Model to create
a consumer base around user loyalty and recurring visits. This consumer base
tends be more committed both in time and emotion. Revenue for this model is
generated in a couple of ways such as through the sale of supplemental goods
and services, donations, related advertising or subscriptions. Community models
come in a variety of types such as an open source, open content, crowdsourcing,
fund-raising, and social networking services. Let’s take a brief look at each
of these types of models.
Open source is an agreement where
people come together to produce a common resource on their own conditions, of
their own design, as an independent community. According to Brabham (2013), “These
individuals improve a common resource, they freely contribute their
improvements back to the commons” (p. 6). Open source companies rely strongly
on their development communities and are often seen as contributions to the
constant advancement of the Internet. Most users have at some point utilized
open source software such as Firefox, Linux and Apache. One could say that this
open source movement helped spawn the free access or open content movement.
With the need for this open culture
open content has begun to see a rise in popularity among its users. This content
is created by a community of volunteers and is available to anyone and is often
seen as “commons-based peer productions.” Open content is freely shared
relevant resources, along with knowledge that is brought together in a
collaborative way to create solutions or answer questions. A common example of
open content that is used by many is Wikipedia. Piggybacking off of this
collective intelligence of online communities is the concept of crowdsourcing.
Crowdsourcing brings in this
concept of utilizing an online community of members to contribute on projects
to solve problems and serve organizational goals. Crowdsourcing is still a
pretty new marvel that relies on the skill of the Internet. Two great
crowdfunding websites are Peerbackers and Kickstarter. According to Outlaw
(2013), “Peerbackers is consistently recognized as one of the top crowdfunding websites in the industry
and deals with funding entrepreneurs and innovators (para. 5). Kickstarter is one of the most well-known of
the crowdfunding websites, and focuses on creative endeavors such as design,
the arts, gaming and technology.” (para. 6) This site isn’t really used to fund
businesses but it takes products and has produced over a million dollars.
Then there is the community model
of fund-raising. These fund-raising sites survive on voluntary donations from a
community of consumers. Many non-profits utilize social media or fund-raising sites
to solicit donations for their cause. According to Web Marketing Today (2014), “Reasons
that non-profit organizations engage in utilizing social media to aid in their
fundraising efforts is to target younger markets, maintaining communications,
education, advocacy or to build your house list.” (para. 7) Most non-profit
organizations have ways for donors to make contributions directly through their
webpages. A great option for these organizations to look at retaining donors
and therefore generating a consistent donor base would be to set up memberships
or renewal processes.
The final community model to look
at are social networking services. This model allows people with common
interests to hook up over the Internet. Some examples of social networking
services are email and instant messaging. Many of these services offer free
basic options, but some social networking services generate revenue by charging
fees to access premium features to subscribers. Two of the largest social networking services
are Facebook and LinkedIn. Social networks allow users to post content in real
time. Businesses are jumping on the social networking bandwagon by posting job
opportunities, product reviews, hosting conferences and educational opportunities.
Overall, these community models
have a different set of needs yet they all have one thing in common and this is
that sense of commitment and emotion from their consumers. These models all
rely on a group of members or “internet community” in order to be successful. Community
models are currently one of the most bountiful areas of development. Two of the
main reasons for these types of models are relationship or task oriented. The
relationship aspect primarily targets around common interests and the task
oriented portion provides a way for professional communities to distribute
information through protected networks. These sites are able to produce revenue
via advertising, subscriptions – memberships or shopping. Some sites actually
offer incentives to consumers for getting their friends and family to also
subscribe to the site. Businesses are able take advantage and be a part of this
“community” by participating in blogs, web banners or being part of forums
taking place in these specific community sects.
References
Brabham, D. C.
(2013). Crowdsourcing. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press,
6.
Outlaw, S. (2013,
October 10). 10 Top Crowdfunding Websites. Retrieved from
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228534.
Qori, C. (2014, June
30). Using Social Media for Nonprofit Fundraising. Retrieved from
http://www.webmarketingtoday.com/articles/112484-Using-Social-Media-for-Nonprofit-Fundraising/.
